THE GENET 
seize it, the genet, however, fights fiercely with 
teeth and claws. The saliva of this animal appar- 
ently possesses some poisonous property, but this 
has not been satisfactorily demonstrated. 
Several cases have been reported of men dying 
two or three weeks after being bitten by genets. 
In these instances it is stated that after being se- 
verely bitten on the hand or arm by a genet, the 
wounds healed satisfactorily, but subsequently 
violent and sharp pains radiated up the arm from 
the site of the bite into the shoulder, followed later 
by symptoms which seemed to resemble hydro- 
phobia more or less. However, be this as it may, 
the fact should be recognised that wounds caused 
by the bites of enraged animals are particularly 
liable to become inflamed and set up a condition 
of blood-poisoning. 
Therefore all such bites should be treated as 
poisoned wounds. If the wounds are slits, scratches, 
or gashes, then the cleansing and disinfecting pro- 
cess is simple, for in these instances they need only 
be thoroughly washed with a solution of perman- 
ganate of potash and afterwards liberally dusted 
over with boracic acid powder and bandaged. If, 
however, the wounds are deep punctures made by 
the canine teeth of an animal, they should be thor- 
oughly syringed to the bottom with a weak solution 
of permanganate of potash or Condy’s fluid. This 
can be done with an ordinary glass syringe. 
When captured adult, the genet never loses 
e 
